1. In a large salad bowl combine the chicken, lettuce, green onion, celery, nuts, seeds and noodles. Mix all together. Set aside. 2. To Make Dressing: Put vinegar in a small bowl. Dissolve sugar and salt in vingegar before adding oil. Shake/Beat well. 3. Add dressing to salad and toss to coat.

This isn't the typical chicken salad, but it's also Asian. Basically, you start with shredded poached chicken (warm it up if you haven't just poached it), top it with 2-3 julienned scallions, a couple Tbsp. soy sauce, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. sesame oil--this can vary to taste.

Then you heat 1/4 cup of peanut oil in a skillet on the stove until it smokes, and carefully pour it over the chicken and other ingredients. It will spatter, so don't stand too close. Toss it to mix, and eat.

Recipe's from Jeff Smith's The Frugal Gourmet, and it's a family favorite. To poach the chicken, I usually do it Chinese style...

Rub the chicken (usually works best with one around 3.5-4 lbs.) with salt and some sesame oil if you want, and let sit overnight in the fridge. Bring a big pot of water to boiling (enough water to immerse the chicken in fully) and put the chicken in. Let sit a minute, then take it out and let the water come back up to a boil. Put chicken back in, put on lid, turn off heat and let sit for an hour.

You can add aromatics and flavorings to the water if you like: scallions, shallots, peppercorns, ginger, etc. This sort of dish is very simple, very homestyle, although you will see it in more authentic Chinese restaurants, too.

I love the chicken salad from McGinnis Sisters in Pittsburgh. I can't get anything like it down here and wish I could make something like theirs. ALso there's an Italian Market in Bloomfield that comes pretty close. Can anyone help ??

1. In a large salad bowl combine the chicken, lettuce, green onion, celery, nuts, seeds and noodles. Mix all together. Set aside. 2. To Make Dressing: Put vinegar in a small bowl. Dissolve sugar and salt in vingegar before adding oil. Shake/Beat well. 3. Add dressing to salad and toss to coat.

Strangely enough, for this purpose (and this purpose almost only) I actually prefer iceberg lettuce. Don't know why--I almost always use some other kind of salad greens otherwise, but it seems right for Chinese Chicken Salad.

And you might consider adding just a drop or two of Chinese sesame oil to the above recipe.